The Constitutional Court this May will examine the challenge concerning the constitutional norm that refers to the neutrality status of Moldova, which was filed by the Liberal Party (PL), the Court’s president Alexandru Tanase said in an interview for Radio Free Europe, quoted by IPN.
Alexandru Tanase stated that a sitting on the issue will take place at the beginning of May. As regards the Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu’s assertion that the Court is politically influenced because it accepted to delay interpreting the norm on the neutrality status, Tanase said there is a great distance from a postponement decision up to the political influence.
“Statistics show that the Liberal Party over the last two years submitted 29 or 30 challenges, while the Democratic Party – only two challenges and they were both rejected. Most of the PL’s challenges were accepted. Thus, statistics can refute any statement,” he said, noting that any Court has the right to delay taking a decision, while in the given case it was the head of state who made such a request.
Alexandru Tanase stated that he cannot say what he discussed with President Nicolae Timofti, but underlined the arguments provided by the head of state referred to a particular situation when Moldova didn’t have a Government and a formed Parliament and faced a major political crisis. It wasn’t clear at all who was to take a decision in case of an extreme situation then.
He added that the interpretation of the Constitution’s article regarding the country’s status of neutrality is a complex matter as it is not only about the normality, but also about the presence of foreign military troops. “This is a special challenge and the Court will definitely pass its verdict on it. We didn’t refuse to examine it. We can refuse only when we consider the interpretation is not necessary because the legal norm is clear,” stated Alexandru Tanase.
The PL requested the Constitutional Court to interpret the constitutional norm that refers to the status of neutrality. During the election campaign and after it, the party declared that the country will be safe only if it joins NATO and the EU.